Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1973: "Trinity

Dong! Dong! Dong!

In the Fairy Tale Town, the melodious and ancient bell sounded once again. Thunder cracked, and Iluna at the top of the Bell Tower was struck by the silver white thunder, triggering the effect of Love God’s Sting, transforming her into dazzling sunlight flying high into the sky;

Above, the Butterfly Wing Girl spread her arms, and after the silver white thunder pierced through her chest, she too transformed into blood-red light, flying into Shard’s body.

Two beams of light entered his body, and for an instant, Shard even felt as if his body was about to split apart. At the same time, the soul-wrenching pain almost caused the Maze Lock he was struggling to maintain to collapse. The scenery of Fairy Tale Town was gradually disappearing, the peculiar sights on Green Island returning, even the Church’s Circle Sorcerers watching him from the sky could tell he was nearing his limit.

Holding two Chosen at once, even for Shard, it was ultimately too demanding. Fortunately, the immense spirit of the Butterfly Wing Girl allowed the Maze Lock to continue functioning, but he had to resolve the issue quickly.

The "trinity" state of the Outlander, Chosen of Space, and Chosen of Balance intertwined, and the soul grew increasingly radiant due to the presence of divinity. His attire changed once more, with dark red metallic stripes on his golden robe.

No wings appeared behind him, nor did a spiral of gold and silver entwine into the Ring of Fate. Only a dark gold Balance and dark gold Cubus appeared in his left and right hands, respectively.

The people could only see him surrounded by light, rushing directly towards the center of the black vortex in the sky. In a silent instant, brilliant white light erupted at the center of the black vortex.

In the Material World, all objects flying upwards from Green Lake Central Island, Green Lake, and its surrounding villages and fields were instantly recaptured by gravity, falling down like rain.

The dense fog that pervaded the entire area dissipated bit by bit, even the white fog that had hung over the island for more than a hundred years was thinning under the night.

Though the week-long rain had not yet ceased, the torrential downpour was weakening. The night sky, filled with rifts, gradually saw those rifts disappear. This, in turn, caused all the rifts in the night sky of the Material World to heal, though anomalies caused by unstable space continued to trouble the Circle Sorcerers, and creatures emerging from space rifts still existed in the Material World.

On Green Island, a giant tree swayed in the wind. The starry sky was gradually revealing itself in the darkness, and the massive black vortex was slowly contracting.

The Circle Sorcerers in the sky breathed a collective sigh of relief, most descending to the island ground to assist the newly landed large force in dealing with monsters not yet suppressed.

A few remained in the sky, watching over the small wreckage in the treetop where a man locked in crimson chains lay.

The last trace of Maze Lock - Fairy Tale Town remained, with Shard and Iluna hand in hand, reappearing together in the wreckage amidst the light.

The Chosen of Space and Chosen of Balance jointly stabilized the shattered space. Now the Butterfly Wing Girl waited at an even higher altitude for the disappearance of the black vortex, while Shard and Iluna returned to continue handling the matters here.

Shard was almost unable to stand, while Iluna was deep in thought, not realizing she was still holding Shard’s hand:

"So this is what space’s power is like..."

Earlier, as she fused souls with Shard, her soul touched the essence of the "Chosen of Space". Although her soul was suppressed by Shard at the time and the Ring of Fate did not manifest, she clearly felt that she had gained another Spirit Rune.

The two stood in front of "Edwards", with the angel feather with two uses left appearing in the pale Shard’s hand.

He gently brushed forward, and the Cherub’s phantom appeared before "Edwards".

The Angel Halo shimmered, and "Edwards", firmly locked, began to blur. As torrents of blood water spilled from his body, the souls of Sloss of the Second Generation, Pride and Gratoni of the Third Generation, Hohenheim, Edward, Alphonse, Maria and her siblings of the Fourth Generation, Nadia Folan, Nicholas Green, and Jarvis Edwards of the Fifth Generation, and the Folan Brothers and Edwards Brothers of the Sixth Generation, totaling fourteen souls, all separated from their original bodies.

The blood-red chains split into two parts; one part continued to bind the battered Laplace Klein Howard, while more chains locked the black humanoid form of the third-generation firstborn, Envy Edwards.

The former hung his head in shame, while the curse on the latter was actually corroding the crimson Great Sin Chains.

At this moment, Shard was still maintaining these chains, but as the Maze Lock dwindled, the chains created by the "Lovers of the Bell Tower" were losing power.

He gasped heavily, supported by Iluna, mustering the remaining spirit in an attempt to make a wish through "Maze Lock - Match Girl". But Laplace Klein Howard suddenly raised his head and said:

"I know what you want to do, release me, I’ll help you."

Iluna wanted to speak, but Shard stopped her:

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I know you want that best outcome."

Finally, a warm late spring night breeze blew, rustling the chains, and Shard actually released the chains. The Diviner slowly rose with support from the ground, and at the same time, nearly all the spirit he had at that moment was activated, wrapping the blood water that overflowed from his body around the souls of several people.

Sloss Edwards, the tentacled evil object from the second generation, Nadia Folan from the fifth generation, Jarvis Edwards, the Furen Brothers from the sixth generation, and the Edwards Brothers—bodies of these seven individuals were reconstructed in bloody water, their souls returned to their respective bodies, and those who were not yet deceased returned to their original appearances.

As for Pride and Gratoni from the third generation, who were tainted by demon power, the four siblings from the already deceased fourth generation, and Elder Green who had passed away, their souls were restored to normal, but the "Ancestor" did not resurrect them.

Among the seven resurrected people, all except Sloss Edwards remained unconscious. In contrast, the souls of the other eight individuals were fully awake, yet they were unaware of what had just happened. Meanwhile, as Shard’s Maze Lock completely dissipated, the blood glow surrounding Laplace Klein Howard exploded entirely, seemingly having exhausted all his power to restore these descendants.

However, in an instant, countless cards flew around and astonishingly reconstituted his body, just as Nadia Folan had once reminded him. The Diviner achieved a "rebirth" using his set of alchemical cards. He suddenly leaped into the sky, transforming into a burst of blood light, leaving behind.

"He escaped?"

Iluna asked but displayed no intention of pursuit, as she too was utterly exhausted.

Shard also had no intention of chasing but confirmed the direction the Diviner had flown towards—it was the southern part of the island now turned from a bell tower into a lighthouse, where Sister Delphine resided.

He knew what the Diviner was going to do:

"Let’s deal with it later. For now, we still need to see what this fellow plans to do."

Shard’s complexion had barely recovered somewhat, and along with Iluna, he turned to look at Envy Edwards, who was bound by two black Great Sin Chains. The souls of the Edwards family and the awakened Sloss Edwards urgently led the six unconscious living people away from there. The overwhelming malice formed by the space-time curse, once freed from its sealed container, seemed ready to instantly infect everything around it.

However, Shard thought the curse on the opponent was entirely inferior to the one he encountered in his dreams with the Long-Haired Luvia.

"It’s indeed hard to handle."

Iluna, somewhat troubled, covered her head:

"I’ve been exhausted for the whole night. Maybe we should leave him to the church to handle. I wonder if the legendary Guardian of Space-Time truly exists. If they do, they should come out and solve this issue... Wait a minute, I’m actually part of the church."

Shard smiled to comfort her:

"No worries, I’ll deal with it."

Iluna looked at him worriedly, knowing he was definitely more fatigued than she was.

"It’s okay, no need to take any action. Although this was the biggest problem we faced before landing on the island, everything tonight has been truly magical. The Prophet’s Society foresaw through divination how to solve this big problem, and the fisherman who unexpectedly died on the reef had left a hint intentionally for me."

"What hint? Oh, I remember now. The last time I met our Diviner friend, she had given a hint too."

Iluna calculated the time and suddenly realized that it was already past midnight; she realized she was now eighteen years old.

Shard didn’t think about these things for the moment. He gestured to Iluna not to come along and went alone towards the nearly freed pitch-black humanoid bound by the Great Sin Chains.

Facing a curse far weaker than the one on the Long-Haired Luvia, Shard placed his hand on the figure’s forehead:

"Praise the Father of the Infinite Tree."

Nothing happened; Shard felt a bit awkward and took three pieces of the Ever-Youth Leaf from the pocket watch case in his pocket. He placed one in his mouth, chewed it to restore his condition, put one back, and held the last in the palm of his hand, pressing it against Envy Edwards’ head:

"Praise the Father of the Infinite Tree!"

Vivid green light radiated from the gap between Shard’s palm and the black humanoid’s forehead. Honestly, there had been many glows during the fight, but this particular glow brought unusual comfort.

The voice beside his ear softly said:

[Outlander, you have touched the space-time curse.]

[Message from the Father of the Infinite Tree:]

[To cleanse the space-time curse, a sacrifice of an Ever-Youth Leaf is needed, and within a month, no normal Time Key may be used.]